More Blues At Gray Lady

Standard & Poor's Rating Service has put the NYT's long-term debt on "credit watch with negative implications" because of recently announced layoffs and poor financial performance.

The news is particularly significant as Big Print scrambles to pick up new media to offset its own declining circulation. The NYT paid $410 million in March for About.com -- something that would be difficult to repeat given S&P's new rating.

Meanwhile, the NY Post reports internal communications at the Times were not exactly textbook:

The extent of the cuts apparently caught Times Executive Editor Bill Keller by surprise.

He learned last Friday that the company planned to cut 500 jobs — about 4 percent of its workforce — and on Monday was informed by Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. that the Times newsroom would take a 45-person hit.

"My heart sank," Keller said in an interview with Editor & Publisher. "I was hoping we could do this without layoffs, which are poison in a newsroom."